San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Friday that scientific evidence points to the presence of human remains at the Arroyo Grande, California, home of Susan Flores, the mother of Paul Flores, the man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart nearly three decades ago. Investigators served a search warrant at the property Wednesday and have been collecting soil samples and deploying decomposition specialists ever since, the Washington Times reported.
Smart's body has never been recovered. She vanished in May 1996 after walking home from an off-campus party at California Polytechnic State University. Paul Flores, identified by prosecutors as the last person seen with her, was convicted of her murder in 2022 and sentenced to prison in March 2023. Yet for all the courtroom finality, the family has spent thirty years without a body to bury.
That may now be changing, or at least the search has narrowed. Parkinson told reporters Friday that soil and decomposition testing at Susan Flores' property produced results the sheriff's office cannot ignore.
"We believe that based on what we're looking at evidence-wise, scientific evidence, that a human's remains were there at one time, or still there. We can't call it Kristin, but there's evidence to support human remains."
The sheriff added a blunt pledge about the scope of the effort: "We are not leaving that house until we are sure that we have checked everything."
What investigators found, and what they haven't
Authorities have not disclosed what prompted them to turn their attention to Susan Flores' home now, years after her son's conviction. The property sits in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande, more than 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It is a different location from the property belonging to Ruben Flores, Paul's father, where prosecutors previously alleged Smart's remains had been buried and later moved.
Ruben Flores was arrested alongside his son in 2021 but was acquitted of accessory charges.
Tim Nelligan, an expert in soil vapor testing, confirmed by phone Thursday that he was on the premises gathering samples from the yards of Susan Flores and a neighbor. He described his work as helping to "come up with a methodology to assess soil vapor" related to "human cadaver decomposition." He declined to discuss the investigation further.
Parkinson said investigators may need to deploy ground-penetrating radar once items on the property are moved. He acknowledged that multiple additional search warrants could be required to dig, including, potentially, excavating cement. He did not say how long the search would last.
Fox News reported that the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said it "remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family." The sheriff's office executed the warrant at the Arroyo Grande property connected to Smart's disappearance and Paul Flores, with soil testing related to decomposition compounds forming the basis of the sheriff's Friday statement.
A case that took decades to crack
Kristin Smart was 19 years old when she disappeared from Cal Poly in May 1996. She was declared legally dead in 2002. For years the case went cold, a source of grief for her family and frustration for investigators.
The break came in part through unconventional channels. Chris Lambert, a podcaster behind "Your Own Backyard," helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses. Lambert was the first to report the current search of Susan Flores' home. He told reporters he was optimistic that investigators could locate Smart's body, noting that past searches of Susan Flores' property had never been thorough.
"This property in particular has been overlooked for quite some time."
That a podcast helped crack a decades-old murder case says something about both the persistence of private citizens and the limits of official investigations. Cases involving deceptive circumstances and delayed justice are not uncommon in American criminal law, but few stretch as long as this one.
Paul Flores and Ruben Flores were arrested in 2021. At trial, prosecutors argued Paul Flores killed Smart and that his father helped conceal the body. The jury convicted Paul of murder but acquitted Ruben of accessory charges. Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 and has since been physically attacked at least twice in prison.
In 2024, a judge ordered Paul Flores to pay just over $350,000 to the Smart family for costs incurred after Kristin's death. That same year, his attorney Harold Mesick said the defense did not know where Smart's remains are.
Susan Flores and the unanswered questions
Susan Flores has never faced criminal charges related to the case. Attempts to reach her for comment this week were not successful. Parkinson said she could not return to her home until investigators were finished.
The sheriff stopped short of confirming whether the evidence pertains specifically to Kristin Smart's remains. He also did not say whether authorities would seek another warrant to begin digging on the property. Those open questions hang over the investigation as soil samples are processed and specialists continue their work.
The New York Post reported that investigators used soil testing and ground-penetrating radar during the search, with the sheriff saying the effort would continue until every lead was exhausted. The emerging soil vapor testing technology, as Newsmax noted, represents a relatively new forensic approach that may explain why this property is receiving fresh scrutiny years after the conviction.
The Smart family released a statement expressing measured hope.
"We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful and look forward to the outcome."
The family added that they "continue to feel the amazing support of the local community which provides us with great strength to continue this journey to bring Kristin home."
For a family that has waited since 1996, the word "journey" carries a weight most people will never understand. Families of missing women often spend years searching for answers while the justice system grinds forward at its own pace.
What comes next
The search at Susan Flores' property remains active. Parkinson's public statements suggest investigators believe they are onto something real, but the sheriff has been careful not to overstate the findings. He has not confirmed the remains are Smart's. He has not confirmed that digging will begin. He has said only that the scientific evidence warrants an exhaustive search, and that his office will not leave until it is done.
The Associated Press later reported that authorities completed a search of the property without recovering Smart's remains, though investigators maintained that evidence suggested human remains had been present there. The sheriff's office reiterated its commitment to finding Kristin and bringing her home.
That outcome, a search that produced evidence but not a body, leaves the case in a familiar and agonizing posture. The conviction is secure. The sentence is being served. But the remains of a young woman who disappeared thirty years ago are still missing.
Cold cases that finally yield charges often remind the public how long justice can take. In this instance, justice arrived in a courtroom in 2022. What has not arrived is closure for a family that still cannot lay their daughter to rest.
The Breitbart report noted that authorities planned a public update on the search results, underscoring the degree of community attention the case still commands. Lambert's podcast, the sheriff's public statements, and the family's quiet resolve have kept Kristin Smart's name in the public conversation long after the news cycle might otherwise have moved on.
Families of homicide victims deserve more than a conviction on paper. They deserve answers. And in the Smart case, the most important answer, where Kristin is, remains, after thirty years, just out of reach.
A conviction without a body is justice half-delivered. The Smart family has waited long enough for the rest.
